d in the temple of Delphi by the victorious
Greeks. [48] The beauty of the Hippodrome has been long since defaced by
the rude hands of the Turkish conquerors; [48a] but, under the similar
appellation of Atmeidan, it still serves as a place of exercise for
their horses. From the throne, whence the emperor viewed the Circensian
games, a winding staircase [49] descended to the palace; a magnificent
edifice, which scarcely yielded to the residence of Rome itself, and
which, together with the dependent courts, gardens, and porticos,
covered a considerable extent of ground upon the banks of the Propontis
between the Hippodrome and the church of St. Sophia. [50] We might
likewise celebrate the baths, which still retained the name of
Zeuxippus, after they had been enriched, by the munificence of
Constantine, with lofty columns, various marbles, and above threescore
statues of bronze. [51] But we should deviate from the design of this
history, if we attempted minutely to describe the different buildings
or quarters of the city. It may be sufficient to observe, that whatever
could adorn the dignity of a great capital, or contribute to the benefit
or pleasure of its numerous inhabitants, was contained within the walls
of Constantinople. A particular description, composed about a century
after its foundation, enumerates a capitol or school of learning, a
circus, two theatres, eight public, and one hundred and fifty-three
private baths, fifty-two porticos, five granaries, eight aqueducts or
reservoirs of water, four spacious halls for the meetings of the senate
or courts of justice, fourteen churches, fourteen palaces, and four
thousand three hundred and eighty-eight houses, which, for their size
or beauty, deserved to be distinguished from the multitude of plebeian
inhabitants. [52]

[Footnote 44: Zosim. l. ii. p. 106. Chron. Alexandrin. vel Paschal. p.
284, Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 24. Even the last of those writers seems
to confound the Forum of Constantine with the Augusteum, or court of the
palace. I am not satisfied whether I have properly distinguished what
belongs to the one and the other.]

[Footnote 45: The most tolerable account of this column is given by
Pocock. Description of the East, vol. ii. part ii. p. 131. But it is
still in many instances perplexed and unsatisfactory.]

[Footnote 46: Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 24, p. 76, and his notes ad
Alexiad. p. 382. The statue of Constantine or Apollo was thrown down
under t